''Women Without Men'' is a 1956 British drama film directed by Elmo Williams and Herbert Glazer and starring Beverly Michaels,

Joan Rice Joan Rice (3 February 1930 – 1 January 1997) was an English film actress. Rice is best known for her role as Dalabo in the film '' His Majesty O'Keefe'' (1954) which co-starred Burt Lancaster. Apart from that she played Maid Marian in ''The ...

and Hermione Baddeley. The screenplay concerns a woman who is unjustly sent to prison for an act which was really one of self-defense, and who escapes from prison in order to keep a rendezvous with her would-be fiancé, who has been out of the country and unaware of her plight. For U.S. release the film was retitled ''Blonde Bait'' and substantially re-edited, with new scenes filmed by the American distributors (with additional American actors - e.g. Jim Davis replacing Paul Carpenter as Nick) and notable character and plot changes, such as turning the heroine into a gangster's moll, for whom the prison break in engineered by the police in hopes she will lead them to her much-wanted fugitive boyfriend. Other new actors were Richard Travis,

Harry Lauter Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter (June 19, 1914 – October 30, 1990) was an American character actor. Early years Lauter was born in White Plains, New York. He worked as a model for a professional photographer and was a rodeo rider before m ...

and

Paul Cavanagh William Grigs Atkinson (8 December 1888 – 15 March 1964), known professionally as Paul Cavanagh, was an English film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1928 and 1959. Life and career Cavanagh was born in Felling, ...

. Beverly Michaels also appeared in the film's new ending sequence.

Plot

Cast

* Beverly Michaels - Angie Booth *

- Cleo * Thora Hird - Granny * Avril Angers - Bessie *

Paul Carpenter Paul Carpenter may refer to: *Paul Carpenter (actor) (1921–1964), Canadian actor and singer * Paul Carpenter (baseball) (1894–1968), minor league baseball player * Paul B. Carpenter (1928–2002), American politician See also *Paul Carpenter St ...

- Nick * Hermione Baddeley - Grace *

Bill Shine William Shine (born July 4, 1963) is a former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. He spent most of his career as a producer and executive at Fox News. Most recently, he was c ...

- Reveller * Gordon Jackson - Percy *

Valerie White Valerie may refer to: People *Saint Valerie (disambiguation), a number of saints went by the name Valerie *Valerie (given name), a feminine given name Songs *"Valerie", a 1981 song by Quarterflash, from ''Quarterflash'' *"Valerie", a 1982 son ...

- Governor *

Eugene Deckers Eugene Francis Deckers (22 October 1917, in Antwerp – 1977, in Paris, France) was a Belgian actor. Career After establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic le ...

- Pierre *

April Olrich April Olrich (17 July 1931 – 15 April 2014), born Edith April Oelrichs, was an English ballerina and actress, born in Zanzibar, now part of Tanzania. Early life Edith April Oelrichs was born in Zanzibar in 1931 (some sources give 1933), where h ...

- Margueritte *

Ralph Michael Ralph Michael (26 September 1907 – 9 November 1994) was an English actor. He was born as Ralph Champion Shotter in London. His film appearances included ''Dead of Night'', ''A Night to Remember (1958 film), A Night to Remember'', ''Children ...

- Julian * Betty Cooper - Evans * Sheila Burrell - Babs * Michael Golden - Bargee

Critical reception

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

'' wrote, "Hammer Films, just before their success in the horror field, jumped on the band-wagon for women's prison films that had been rolling in Britain and America since the success of ''

Caged In music, a barre chord (also spelled bar chord) is a type of chord on a guitar or other stringed instrument played by using one finger to press down multiple strings across a single fret of the fingerboard (like a bar pressing down the strin ...

'' in 1950. Beverly Michaels (sent to prison on the slimmest of pretexts), Joan Rice, April Olrich and Hermione Baddely are among those looking grim, while Thora Hird makes the most of one of her best film roles as the indomitable Granny." The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' noted a " Second-feature British prison drama of no particular distinction, but deploying some humour and employing some interesting names - Thora Hird, Avril Angers - which up the entertainment quotient...it's good for an idle rainy afternoon or 2am insomnia."

References

External links

* 1956 films 1956 crime drama films British crime drama films Women in prison films Films shot in Berkshire Hammer Film Productions films 1950s prison films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{crime-drama-film-stub